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Nightsisters
The Nightsisters were a group of Dathomiri Witches who used the dark arts within their Force-driven Magicks. The Nightsisters were originally members of other witch clans who began to utilize the dark side in defiance of the orthodoxy found in the Book of Law, their governing holy text. These witches adopted a shamanistic culture that rejected the notion of "good" and "evil", and instead chose to call upon the twin energies of the Winged Goddess and the Fanged God in order to utilize their Magicks and communicate with the spirit realm. They focused extensively on the art of casting illusions through "illusion spells." Witches found guilty of practicing these heretical techniques were banished into Dathomir's wilderness and left for dead. In c. 490 BBY, the Dark Lord Dessel Bane and his apprentice Zannah Rain arrived on Dathomir and took up residence with one of the communities of exiled dark-siders. Soon the witches were educated in Bane and Rain's own knowledge of dark lore and in large part reshaped their society based upon Bane's beliefs. By 480 BBY, Bane had begun to wonder whether or not Zannah, who by now had conceived at least one child with him, was worthy to be his concubine and possible successor. As a test, Bane arranged for a witch known as the Huntress to attempt to assassinate Rain, however, the concubine emerged the winner in their bout. Soon finding out that Bane was responsible for the attempt on her life, Zannah confronted her lover and former master in a duel for the final time, having to use her sorcery to kill him. Believing that they were now Bane's legacy, Zannah announced to her fellow witches that she was their new leader and that Bane would live on forever through his teachings. This marked the beginning of the Nightsisters name gaining wide spread use. In the period afterwards, these sorceresses used their powerful connection to Dathomir's untamed wilds to terrorize their fellow clans and fight for dominance over the planet. Although the witches had designs for galactic dominance, they were largely confined to their own world, as the Jedi Order maintained active interdiction of the planet. During the Imperial Period, the exiled witch Gethzerion used her superior powers to unite the wandering outcasts into a new clan of Nightsisters, and even went so far as to frame a revised holy text known as the Book of Shadows. After the Dark Lord and Galactic Emperor Cosimo Palpatine II came to understand the depths of the Nightsisters' power and the strength of their founder, Gethzerion, the Galactic Empire had maintained a quarantine of the planet in an attempt to ensure that none of the witches escaped off-world. In the final years of the Cosimo II's reign, Dathomir was placed under the command of Zsinj, an Imperial admiral who declared himself a warlord after Palpatine's death in 4 ABY. Zsinj maintained the Emperor's forced isolation of Dathomir until Gethzerion and her Nightsisters succeeded in capturing New Republic General Han Solo on the planet's surface. The Clan Mother brokered a deal with the Imperial Warlord to trade General Solo for interstellar transport, but reneged on the arrangement and attempted to flee Dathomir without Zsinj's blessing. In retaliation, Zsinj directed his forces to destroy Gethzerion's transport, thereby killing her and all the Nightsisters aboard. This betrayal fragmented the Nightsisters, however the witches were able to reorganize when Tamith Kai and her new clan allied with the Third Imperium. Later, Clan mother Zalem attempted to use Dathomir's legendary Infinity Gate to destroy Coruscant, the capital world of the New Republic. After the plot was foiled and Zalem was killed by her daughter, numerous clans of Nightsisters were united into a single coven by the shaman Mother Talzin. The clan survived through the Yuuzhan Vong War and Second Galactic Civil War and briefly allied with a Lost Tribe against the New Jedi Order. History Founding The Witches of Dathomir had a long tradition of exiling darksiders and others who broke their ancient code to live outside the warrior clans in solitude and contemplation. However, at some point in the waning days of the Galactic Republic, the exile Gethzerion began to gather these outcasts to form a new clan, which became the Nightsisters. Over time, this group came to resemble the traditional clans and started to expand, raising its own children to heed the power of the dark side, although they did not regard it in those terms. While the other clans were reluctant to forcibly oppose them, their numbers rose steadily, climbing to approximately one hundred in 8 ABY. Yuuzhan Vong War Sometime during the Yuuzhan Vong War, a group of Nightsisters came into contact with Count Jard Dooku. This faction of dark side users were under the control of Sai Sircu and Yansu Grjak. Dooku recruited them to help with espionage, but their true goals were their own. Known Nightsisters *Yansu Grjak *Sai Sircu *Baritha *Barukka *Maris Brood *Charal *Diax *Dresdema *Iesrena Feroldam *Gethzerion (leader) *Grania *Gruthashaal *Hacina *Ablow Hirzo *Fath H'ray *Kyrisa *Mei Lai *Ros Lai *Leandra *Merili *Mighella *Axkva Min *Morathax *Ocheron *Robetheri *Shabell *Silri *Talzin *Asajj Ventress *Varr *Halliava Vurse *Zalem *Dathomir Imperial Prison *Nightsister Stronghold *Shadow Academy Religion and philosophy The Nightsisters, like all other Daughters of Allya, attributed the work of the Force as that of the Spirits, a group of supernatural beings that were thought to inhabit a parallel plane to the mundane world. They had special veneration for the "Twin Deities," the Fanged God and the Winged Goddess, who were thought to bring balance to the universe. The nefarious witches used the Force through a series of techniques they called Allyan Magic, having developed their own "night spells" by tapping into the dark side. Nightsisters were expert at casting illusions through "illusion spells," and it appeared that, like the Fallanassi, this was an integral part of the way they used the Force. Due to their constant wielding of dark energies, the first Nightsisters tended to display ruptured blood vessels in their bodies, especially around their eyes. Certain Jedi Masters like Yoda also believed it was their power to manipulate weather patterns that made their aspect so peculiar. There was no "uniform" or standard dress for the Nightsisters, and each wore clothing that suited them personally, although most tended towards black robes and cloaks, adorned with tribal jewelry and accessories. Many of them also had unusually pale skin, which might be enhanced by applied tinctures. Nightsisters were known to be able to empower swords and other simple weapons with the Force, making them unbreakable even to the lightsabers worn by the Jedi and Dark Jedi. Although they typically used more primitive weapons such as swords and spears, some Nightsisters did use lightsabers and other variants. Sister Silri used a lightwhip during the Galactic Civil War, and even Gethzerion herself was known to use a red-bladed lightsaber. Either due to their affinity to the Force and/or their magic practices, the Nightsisters possessed advanced longevity, with some witches known to have lived more than one to several centuries. These included Zalem, Gethzerion, Baritha, Talzin, Daka, and Charal. Society All the witch clans of Dathomir were matriarchal societies. Each coven was a "sisterhood" composed of Sisters under the guidance of the Clan Mother, and the "malelings" were generally disregarded. However, the Nightsisters of a few clans had male warriors, believing them to be beings who were capable of balancing the masculine and feminine energies of the spirit realm. Appearances Notes and references }} Category:Dark side organizations Category:Nightsisters Category:Culture of Dathomir